Would it be silly to assume BAA didn't leave all the equipment when Gatwick was sold off?
Today 14:04
I'm not sure what Fernanjet's going on about, when you sell your house, your car has nothing to do with it........
....But in the case of company takeovers, GIP will have bought all of the
companies assets from BAA, which will comprise the runways, terminals and associated equipment on the asset register, which would have included the snow clearing equipment and de-icing fluid ( stock ), so they should have had all the gear necessary to deal with it.
There would be an exception to this if the Motor Transport and Snow Clearing operation were contracted out, and therefore not part of the assets purchased. This would open up a new scenario, including performance expectations and liabilities between the airport operator and the contractor.
However I would have thought that contracting out snow clearance would be high risk and not a decision to be taken lightly.
I think the "staff couldn't get in" response is a bit weak - other staff and passengers managed to get there didn't they ?
Is it possible that the company had a bit too much faith in the long range weather forecasts issued toward the end of last year and the de-icing stocks were too low to cope with the situation ?
Interesting to see Eurotunnels boss coming clean about their performance with trains stuck in tunnels, it would be nice if Gatwick management were to respond in some way regarding their problems. Wouldn't the regulator be interested in knowing why the country's second busiest airport ground to a halt ?